


Forgiveness

by windstar127



Category: Persona 4
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-06
Updated: 2012-12-06
Packaged: 2017-11-20 12:14:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/585312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windstar127/pseuds/windstar127
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SPOILERS FOR PERSONA X DETECTIVE</p><p>That said, this is a crack fic based on three lines from the megaten wiki, and two images of Aoi Touko on the internet.  Probably doesn't fit into canon.  Will revise as needed after I actually read the book.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forgiveness

She wasn't supposed to be here. That much was obvious from the looks the guards gave her. Shirogane Naoto, the Detective Prince (after eight years, that nickname was never going to go away), had no business lounging in the lobby of a prison in some backwards rural prefecture. Didn't she have crimes to solve in the big cities or something more important to do with her time? That said, she was the reknowned Detective Prince, and for all they knew, some higher-up had called her here to interrogate a prisoner. Whatever the case, they weren't going to hassle her. Pester with overl polite phrases asking about her intentions, perhaps, but they weren't going to toss her out without good reason.

Her phone beeped. Another half dozen emails and texts from work. Naoto growled something unintelligible under her breath and tapped out a series of rapid-fire replies (and tried to limit the number of times she called someone an idiot. Even if they were. Especially if they outranked her.) The double doors leading back into the facility swung open with a gentle creak in the middle of her answering the latest text. She didn't notice the door, but the sound of footsteps approaching made her look up.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Detective Prince," the woman standing before her said in an almost mocking tone. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Touko..." Naoto scrambled to her feet. Something about the older woman (and they were only 3 years apart in age) always made her feel like an awkward teenage boy trying to impress the cool upperclassman (which, with the use of the proper gender term, had actually been the case). 

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Touko looked her up and down, taking in her crisp grey pinstripe pants and matching vest, the blue silk brocade tie, and the jeweled cufflinks at her wrists.

"Three years, six months and eleven days," Naoto replied without thinking and then blushed at the look of amusement on Touko's face.

"You haven't changed a bit, Naoto," Touko laughed. "It's good to see you again. That hair cut suits you."

"You as well," Naoto ran one hand through her short cropped hair and tried to regain some of her composure. Her attempt at keeping her hair long ended not long after Touko's arrest. It was an attempt at old-fashioned mourning, perhaps, but she had cut off the waist-length locks after Touko's trial. Touko looked much the same as she had before, though her eyes were shadowed with old pain and guilt. The lines of her face were sharp and harsh under the fluorescent lighting. Her black hair was pulled back in that habitual ponytail, and her bangs fell just past her eyes. The pendant was gone now, and so was the assured self-confidence she had once projected so easily. In the plain cotton shirt and khaki pants issued by the prison as civilian clothing, there was little trace of the tall handsome detective that Naoto had once loved.

But that didn't matter one single bit.

"What are you doing here?"

"Waiting..." Naoto swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. "Waiting for you."

"What?" Touko's dark eyes widened in surprise. "For me? After everything, you'd still..."

"It didn't seem right..." She, who was always so eloquent, was at a loss for words. How was she supposed to describe what drove her to be here today? At first, when Dojima had passed her the information, she had ignored it, but something had made her look again. Touko, brilliant, charming, witty Touko, who she had looked up to and admired and gotten crushes on all throughout her childhood. Who made a series of bad choices and paid for them. Who would be alone in the world with no friends and the tattered shreds of a once sterling reputation.

And Naoto had not been able to stand that. So that was why she was here now, talking to a woman she had to arrest three years, six months, and eleven days ago.

"Same old Naoto," Touko said with a hint of a smile, "still playing Prince Charming. It's what I've always liked about you, you know. But you don't need to be here. I can manage by myself."

"Don't be ridiculous," Naoto snapped. "You're my friend. Of course I'd be here to meet you."

"You still think that of me? After what I've done?"

"You paid for that by saving my life. There are no unpaid debts between us."

"Naoto..." Touko's voice cracked and broke. Tears welled up in her dark velvety eyes. "I don't deserve someone like you..."

She never knew what to do with a crying woman , particularly not a woman that she 'had a history with'. So she did the first thing that came to mind and threw her arms around Touko and held her close. Touko stiffened at the contact but soon relaxed in Naoto's arms, resting her cheek on Naoto's hair. She didn't know how long they stood there, but eventually they broke apart.

"Do you have any place to go tonight?" Naoto reached out to brush an errant tear from Touko's pale face.

"No, not yet," Touko shook her head. "They didn't make arrangements for me."

"Then," Naoto asked hesitantly, "would you like to come home with me? I live in Inaba now, and it's not too far from here. An hour by train at most."

"Wouldn't your family mind?"

"I wouldn't care even if they did."

"Then...I think...I'd like that," Touko slipped her hand into Naoto's and gave it a light squeeze.

Judging by the looks from the personnel, there would be hell to pay with the rumor mill at work when she returned from her week-long sabbatical, but Naoto couldn't care less.

"Let's go," she said, as they walked out into the crisp fall afternoon hand in hand.


End file.
